Motivated gifts: A self-determination perspective

Author

Sharise Love, University of WashingtonFollow
Liudmila Titova, University of WashingtonFollow

Volume

30

Number

1

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Date

2024

Abstract

Gift-giving can strengthen relationships and facilitate favor requests. Previous researchers have found that 'motivated gifts' (gifts given with the intention of asking a favor) decrease recipients' satisfaction and willingness to help. The current study investigated the role of basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS) in this effect. BPNS is said to facilitate the integration of autonomous motivation, which was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between motivated gifts and prosociality. In the current study, a sample of 426 undergraduate students was randomly given a hypothetical scenario in which they imagined receiving a motivated gift or not, while also being asked a favor. Along with their satisfaction and willingness to help, their BPNS and other measures were taken to test the hypothesis. The findings demonstrated that there were no significant variations in participants' BPNS. However, motivated gifts decreased autonomous motivation. Our research shows that motivated gifts do not always hurt prosocial behavior which, considering why gifts are given, is good for relationships and prosociality.

Keyword

motivated gifts, self-determination theory, basic psychological needs, happiness, gift-giving

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Recommended Citation

Love, Sharise and Titova, Liudmila (2024) "Motivated gifts: A self-determination perspective," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 30: No. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol30/iss1/5